If you've been paying attention to the news, you've probably noticed that the script isn't really matching reality. There's such a disconnect with what's being reported and what's actually happening on the ground. It's becoming more unmistakable every day.
Example: The Tea Parties. We were told time and again how dangerous and racist they were. But out of all the millions of people demonstrating, was there even one incident? Anything? Meanwhile, the media are still reporting on this flotilla incident as if Israel did something horribly wrong. I showed you last night how our own administration has backed the United Nations condemnation of the violent acts committed during the incident. I've seen the videotape and I'd like to know, what would America have done differently?
Let's take a hypothetical situation: Three days after Sept. 11, some folks from Saudi Arabia charter ships, load them with "humanitarian aid" and want to deliver it to the needy people in New York City. Do you think we'd allow them to dock in New York City or do you think we'd try to stop the boats?
After Sept. 11, a Saudi prince offered Rudy Giuliani a donation in the amount of $10 million. The same prince later blamed U.S. policy for the attacks. Giuliani rebuked him and returned the check. We didn't take their money; there's no way we'd let them float into our docks unchecked.
Isn't that what Israel did? Why do we view it differently? Don't they have a right to protect themselves?
Yeah, but Glenn, they attacked this ship in a full scale assault!
Did they? I want to show you two pictures and play a little game: Identify the bad guy!
Here's the first one. OK, I see a bunch of people with weapons, completely surrounding someone who is already in a defensive position on the ground — and they are continuing to beat them to a pulp. Identify the bad guy: Is it the man on the ground getting pummeled or is it the group needlessly delivering a beat-down?
OK, try this one. At first glance it looks pretty similar, you have dozens of people surrounding a lone individual and even though they are completely defenseless, the pummeling continues. Can you identify the bad guy? If you said, "The guys surrounding the lone individual and continually beating them" — sorry, you're wrong. It was a trick question. See, the lone individual is from Israel, so of course, he's bad.
There is no difference between these photos, but there sure seems to be a difference in how they are reported.
Here's how the police beating was reported: "University of Maryland Student Brutally Beaten By Police After Basketball Game"; "Skipping down the street after basketball win over Duke, student John McKenna attacked by police"; "Brutal Police Beating at University of Maryland Sparks Outrage."
Wouldn't America do the same exact thing Israel did? Yes. Do you think a person is a victim or an aggressor when they are on the ground repeatedly being clubbed and getting tossed off the deck?
Martin Luther King knew that people will make mistakes, but trusted them to correct it. MLK knew that if the American people were presented with pictures side by side, they'd pick the right one. But you're not being shown the right pictures. How is it that the good guys are the ones with the clubs?
Why do you think the videos of this flotilla raid are not being shown on the mainstream media? Because it doesn't fit the agenda. It doesn't fit the desired storyline.
Oh Glenn, you'll just defend Israel no matter what. Zionist!
I'm not defending Israel because I hate the Palestinians. I love the truth.
Look, I'm just as sick of being the world's policeman as you are. I don't want to send tanks over or get boots on the ground. They've been warring forever and they're going to be warring forever and I'm sick of trying to sort it all out. So this isn't about a suicide pact where we defend Israel no matter what they do. Let's not make this about them or about our frustrations with all of the endless fighting. Let's make it about right or wrong.
I said last night that Israel is like us. I think they are. Think of how amazing it is, that this little postage stamp of a country is able to remain the one beacon of freedom in a region filled with dictators, thugs and theocracies. Tell me the last time two truly free societies engaged in a war. I don't know if that's ever happened. And, as Cass Sunstein graciously pointed out, there's never been a famine under nations that have capitalism and freedom.
So why wouldn't we stand up for a country more like us? And I'm not playing the world's game that we're all the same, everyone deserves a trophy and America is like everyone else. It's not the truth.
Who are our friends in the Middle East?
Saudi Arabia? There's no freedom of religion; the public practice of non-Muslim religions is prohibited. It's even against the law to be something other than heterosexual, punishable by lashings, prison and, in some cases, execution. A few years ago, a Saudi girl was sentenced to six months in prison and 90 lashes after being gang-raped just for being alone with a non-relative man at the time of her kidnap.
How about Egypt? The police there don't deal with domestic violence. Women are not treated as individuals, but rather as wives, mothers and daughters. You think we're bad with torture and Guantanamo? Using torture is practically routine for Egyptian police officers.
Maybe Syria is our friend? Well, marital rape is not a crime there. You get a break in the courts if the murder you commit was an "honor killing." The Ministry of the Interior estimated that 38 honor crimes took place from June 2008 to June 2009; others estimate the actual number much higher. But would you want to live in a country where the word "honor" is used to describe murder?
What about Iran? If you voice opposition to the government you risk arrest. The practice of arbitrary arrest and detainment without charge are common.
Which country doesn't do these things? Which country allows women to drive and counts them as individuals? Which country actually cares about domestic violence and doesn't give slack to "honor killings"?
Israel.
So you tell me: Who should we be standing with?
— Watch "Glenn Beck" weekdays at 5 p.m. ET on Fox News Channel
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